A/N (23 May 2013): I'd advise re-reading chapter 1 before reading this chapter as there has been a major change regarding the "apparition" in it. However, I have also explained things in my author's note at the end of the chapter, though of course you might be confused while reading. Thank you.

Beautiful image by angelic. @ TDA!

Dominique sighed and rubbed the sides of her forehead. She was tired of everything. The life she had built for herself over the years seemed to be sinking gradually and she felt like she couldn’t do anything about it.

“Dom, are you okay?” Victoire anxiously asked her younger sister who had been staring at the photographs on her mantelpiece. Lately, she had caught herself doing that quite often.

She glanced at Victoire and couldn’t have been more grateful for her presence, or her mother’s. The healer had left a few minutes ago, leaving the three women alone.

“I don’t know, Vic… I just don’t know,” Dominique mumbled tiredly and Victoire looked at her with eyes full of pain, squeezing her hand as if reassuring her that everything would be okay.

“My little girl… why do you have to go through this… this abominable ordeal?” Fleur muttered angrily, wiping her tears away.

“Oh Maman, don’t worry, I’ll… I’ll be fine. I am not a little girl anymore. I am strong… like you,” Dom told her mother, managing a smile. Fleur only sniffed and pulled her daughter into her arms, rubbing her back slowly like she used to do when she was a child.

“Yes you’re my dear, you surely are. I was like you once, strong and fierce, and how I wish I was still like that but old age and worries and memories… bad memories… have weakened me so. But I am proud of you Dom; I know you’ll get through this. I remember when I thought your father had become a werewolf –,” Dominique stiffened slightly at her mother’s words but Fleur didn’t seem to notice, “-oh it was a terrible time for me and yet I stayed strong and I was there by your father’s side. Today, I promise you that you’ll always have your mother, and your father too, by your side. We’re here for you darling.”

Dominique closed her eyes at her mother’s words and reveled in the comfort of her arms for a few moments before pulling away.

“Thanks Mum… I love you.” Fleur gave her a dazzling smile in return.

“Ma cherie… I love you too.”

“You guys are adorable! I love you both!” Victoire blurted suddenly and Dominique smiled. No matter what happened, her family was with her and for that she was glad.

Fleur broke the beautiful moment after a few seconds. “I hope we didn’t have to do this right now… but Dom, have you made a decision yet?”

Dominique took a deep breath and looked from her mother to sister.

“I don’t really have a choice, do I?” she muttered.

“Of course you have a choice!” Victoire said indignantly, tossing behind her strawberry blonde hair. “You can choose not to go through the procedure and-”

“-And what? Take the risk of falling pregnant? Of condemning myself to a bigger grief of losing my child?”

Victoire paled at her words and tears clouded her eyes.

“I didn’t mean that Dominique… I am sorry. But I keep thinking, what if in the future you regret your decision? What if one day you are allowed to have kids? Taking away your motherhood altogether is so cruel. Oh, why did this have to happen to you?” She almost wailed.

“There’s no point in dwelling over it anymore. What had to happen has happened. I am a werewolf Vic, there’s no cure for lycanthropy. I will stay one for life. I cannot allow myself to fall pregnant. It’s better if I go through the procedure and get my ability to conceive… removed,” she winced as she said the words. Though she had steeled herself for it when the healer had informed her of the magical procedure that could take away her conceivability and reduce her chances of having kids to zilch, she couldn’t help but still hurt over the thought of it.

“We should inform the healer then. We need to get it done as soon as possible. In fact, we can do it today itself since we’ve already delayed by a couple of days,” Fleur mumbled sadly.

This reminded Dominique of the question that had been bothering her for quite some time.

“Mum, why didn’t you all tell me this before? The day I woke up in the hospital, when I found out I was a-…I was bitten?

“The healer wanted to inform you right away, but we thought it’d be better if you could at least come to terms with one piece of news first before we threw another one your way,” Victoire muttered apologetically as Fleur nodded.

Dominique shrugged. “It wouldn’t have made much of a difference, not really.” It still hurts the same. She added in her mind, biting her lip from saying the words out loud. She didn’t want to cause her family more pain.

“So… should we inform the healer now?” Victoire said after a small pause.

“No wait! Does… does Teddy know? I need to tell him before I… do this.”

“He knows. He was there when the healer informed us. He also knows about the procedure and he said from the very beginning that you’d choose to go through with it… so there’s nothing to tell him, unless you want to talk to him before you do it,” Fleur told her warily.

“Uh no, I just wanted to make sure he knows about all this. I… I don’t want to talk to him about it. I’ll owl the healer now and let her know that I am ready.” Dominique stood up and turned her back on Victoire and Fleur as tears formed in her eyes.

Not only was she going to be left childless in the future, but she’d also be condemning Teddy to the same fate… if they ever got married. Shoving that thought to the back of her mind, she hurriedly scrawled a confirmation on a piece of parchment and sent it away to St. Mungo’s with her handsome grey owl.

Six hours later, as she was emerging from the ‘magical fixes’ room accompanied by her healer, she couldn’t help but feel that she had lost a part of herself as she looked at the sad and troubled faces of her family and Teddy. A wave of resentment swept through her as she glanced at Victoire, her hand entwined with Ian’s, and a large engagement ring glistening on her finger. Soon, Victoire would be married to her love, would have kids with him one day, and would grow old with him. As for herself, she didn’t know what her future held, whether she even had a future or not, and she avoided meeting Teddy’s eyes.

She hugged her mother and sister as soon as she reached them and exchanged a polite smile with Ian. His sparkling blue eyes looked at her concernedly, and she nodded at him. He had become a part of the family in a very short time, and she almost regarded him like a brother she never had.

“How are you feeling, princess?” Her father murmured as she drew nearer to Bill. He always called her ‘princess’ when she seemed to be upset, and in her childhood it’d nearly cheer her up – not anymore though.

“I… I am okay, Dad. I feel fine,” she replied back as calmly as she could. Bill gave her a side hug and a pat on the shoulder.

“If you need to talk at all, I am here,” he promised and she nodded at him gratefully.

“Thanks Dad, I love you,” she replied and he affectionately pulled her into a hug once more.

“Dom, what’s wrong? Why are you avoiding me again? I thought we had sorted things out earlier!” Teddy hovered over Dominique’s shoulder as she tried to write the article on the werewolves of Cannock Chase forest. They were back in her home and to keep her mind off things, she’d proceeded to work.

She pinched the bridge of her nose and put her quill down, standing up and turning around to face her boyfriend.

“Teddy, I am not avoiding you. I just need to finish my article, that’s it.” He merely snorted in response.

“Oh come on, I know you. That is surely not the reason. You can always chat with me for hours while writing your articles at the same time.”

Dominique sighed and sat back down.

“Teddy, please, I just- I need some time alone, okay?”

She expected him to agree and back off like he usually did when she made a request, but he surprised her. His hair changed to a violent shade of red and he yanked her from her chair.

“Enough Dominique! For Merlin’s sake, I am trying to make this work, make us work, and you seem to be making everything so much harder! I know you’re going through a bad time but I want to help you through it. I can’t do it if you don’t let me. I thought everything was okay between us but then you started acting all weird again! What on earth is the matter with you?”

Dom took a step back in shock. Teddy hardly ever lost his temper, especially not with her. Everyone always said he was the perfect boyfriend who listened to every word of hers. Her ‘condition’ seemed to not only be changing her, but him as well, and she hated it.

“Look, Dom. You need to tell me this straight. Do you still want me? Do you still love me?” The question caught her off guard and her eyes widened in surprise.

“Of course I do, Teddy! How could you think otherwise? I love you so much,” she murmured, stepping closer to him and tentatively taking his hand in hers. The red in his hair slowly began to fade and she could see a wave of relief wash over him.

“I love you too, which is why I don’t want you to distance yourself away from me. Now, tell me what has been bothering you?”

She bit her lip and hesitated slightly before speaking.

“It’s just that after the…procedure... I was afraid. I was afraid that things wouldn’t be the same between us anymore, and more importantly, that I’d ruin your future. I know it sounds stupid, but… I can’t have kids anymore, Teddy! And I know that we may never get married, but if we do, we’re going to be left childless forever. I can deal with my loneliness, my sadness, but I don’t want to see you go through it,” she choked and he gently wiped the tears streaming down her cheeks.

“You’re incredibly stupid, you know that,” he mumbled, causing her to chuckle. “Dominique, things will not be the same between us if you don’t let them be. I love you the same, always have, and always will. I know it sounds completely cliché and what not, but it’s the truth. As for the future, no one knows what will happen. We can always go the muggle method and adopt, you know. Or we could just be happy between you and I. Really, it’s not worth ruining the present for fear of the future.”

She nodded, realizing that he was probably right.

“I am sorry, I’ll not be a dickhead next time.”

“Thank Merlin for that.”

Teddy smiled before kissing her sweetly. She allowed herself to melt into his embrace for a little while but couldn’t keep her thoughts from wandering for far too long.

“Yeah well, it’s been on my mind for quite a while but I just didn’t dwell on it too much. Now, however, I keep going back to it for some reason.” Teddy raised an eyebrow in anticipation and she subconsciously rubbed the side of her neck where her bite mark was.

“You see Teddy, I’ve been wondering, why wasn’t I able to apparate out of the cottage at Cannock Chase? First, I thought it was probably fear, but then I tried a couple of times after clearing my head and yet it still didn’t work. It’s like someone placed anti-apparition charms on it or something… but if the Prophet did it, maybe for my safety or something, why wasn’t I informed beforehand? It was all really weird. Also, why did the werewolf only bite me and not kill me? I mean I am glad it didn’t, but why? And then how is it that I step out of my cottage and a werewolf is right outside my door? Why would it do that? I was told that they’re a docile pack who take wolfsbane and usually stay confined to the forest, then why would this one wolf come all the way to my cottage as if… as if waiting for an opportunity to bite me,” she finished with a gasp, her eyes widening in horror at what she’d just thought of.

Teddy’s face mirrored her expression.

“You mean to say, you think you were deliberately attacked?”

“Yes… but of course, we can’t be sure. Unless-,” she quickly went over to her study cupboard where she kept all her files and papers related to her work, leaving her sentence unfinished.

“Unless what, Dom?” Teddy asked her impatiently. She simply put up a hand and continued to rummage around the cupboard, making him roll his eyes as he waited, reminding him of Aunt Hermione in that moment who would always leave her sentences unfinished when she remembered or found something.

“Here! Found it!” Dominique muttered triumphantly after a while and he walked over to her. She was bending down over a file, and he looked at it over her shoulder.

“This is the file of the werewolf pack, and look, here is the full profile of all the werewolves involved. It clearly states here that they stay in the thick of the forest during the transformations after taking wolfsbane, and what more, there has not been a single incident in the history of this pack where they have attacked anyone – even though there’s a small village close by. This just confirms our suspicions then, I was deliberately attacked.”

Teddy nodded, looking grave. “Who would do this to you, Dom, and why would they even do it? What’s there to gain from harming you?”

Dominique took a deep breath.

“Only one way to find out,” she muttered in response before quickly taking out a parchment and scribbling something on it furiously. Few seconds later, Dilly, her owl was flying away with a letter attached to its leg.

“What was that about?” Teddy asked her once Dilly was out of sight.

“I owled the chief of the werewolves pack, asking him if he knew anything about my attacker, or about the events of that night. I know he is a very self-righteous sort of fellow so he’d definitely tell me if he saw or heard anything fishy. He is also quite arrogant though, which explains why he hasn’t tried to tell me anything so far – he’s the kind of guy who likes you to approach him and beg him, and I did just that in my letter,” she turned to him with a grin. Teddy, however, didn’t look too happy.

“That’s good… but I am really worried, Dom. If this was deliberate, then I am going to kill that person.”

Dominique bit her lip and tried to mask her fear. It scared her that someone would go to such great lengths to harm her. After all, what could they gain from this?

Before the two could discuss the matter further, a tin can glowing bright blue suddenly appeared in the room, and on close inspection, they noticed that it had a rolled piece of parchment stuffed into it. Apparently, the chief thought the matter of much importance if he couldn’t wait until a day or so when they’d receive the owl.

“Well, when I said, please reply as soon as possible, that wasn’t what I had in mind,” Dominique said, taking out the letter from the can and chuckling softly. Teddy gave a low laugh.

“I am just glad that the Ministry authorized the making of portkeys by any wizard or witch off age; it makes life so much easier. I can hardly imagine how they managed in Uncle Harry’s time when the portkeys had to go through the ministry or something.” Teddy glanced at Dom for a response but she was busy opening the letter.

As she smoothed it out, he read it over her shoulder.

Miss Dominique Weasley,

It is a pleasure to hear from you. In fact, I was anticipating your queries so I am pleased you finally called upon my services. Before I proceed though, I want you to swear that my identity as your ‘source’ shall not be revealed to anyone. The rest of the letter shall only disclose itself once you touch your wand on this parchment and make the ‘promise spell’.

Teddy looked at Dominique in surprise, but she merely shrugged and traced her wand on the parchment, murmuring the spell under her breath and promising not to reveal the chief’s identity to anyone. Slowly, the rest of the letter appeared and she continued reading.

Thank you for promising. Without further ado, I shall give you all the facts I know.

The werewolf who attacked you is one who has only recently joined our pack. Mr. Wilson Young is merely in his twenties, and quite poor, so I hope you will not judge him for his actions. It was only his third full moon with us.

From what I remember, he went to the village in the afternoon on the same day you were attacked to meet someone. He seemed excited about the meeting and when asked, he simply said he was going to make some gold soon, so we assumed he was going for a job interview or the like.

However, when I did some digging, a reliable wizard in the village told me that Mr. Young met with a woman who seemed to provide him with an offer of sorts. The only words that my source could catch were, “night”, “cottage”, and “bite”. Soon after the conversation, she handed him a bag of gold and left. I found out her name for you – to see if it was familiar – but I cannot remember it at the moment so I’d have to check it again and get back to you on it.

Nonetheless, according to my instincts, Mr. Young was possibly paid by this woman to infect you. I am extremely sorry for what happened, and I assure you that I shall ensure Mr. Young does not engage in such horrific deals again.

Please let me know if I can be of any further help.

Regards,

David Dale.

P.S. I only just recalled the woman’s name that did the deal with Mr. Young. It was someone called Delilah Jones.

A/N: So, in case you did not re-read Chapter 1 after its edit on 22 May 2013, I'll explain things a bit. Initially, it said that there was anti-apparition charms on the cottage which Dominique knew of beforehand. I was going to have her question that why in the first place would the Prophet do that in this chapter. However, due to massive confused reviews on the first chapter telling me they find it unrealistic, strange etc., I decided to change it to her trying to apparate out but not being able to, and thus going out of the cottage. So, this would at least hint at the readers that something was amiss and it would perhaps be answered later on (and so now it got answered in this chapter).

Also, since quite a few people asked me this in reviews - There's no Louis in this story. I am sorry but I kind of forgot about him while writing (sorry!), and then I don't know how to write him either, so yeah he doesn't exist in this story.

If you still have any doubts, queries, confusions, feel free to approach me on my MTA page, or leave your questions in a review.

Anyway, so how was the chapter? A bit longer than usual I know but there was so much happening... sort of! What do you think? Like it? Dislike it? The decision? Teddy losing his temper? What about the 'ending part'? Reactions? Thoughts? I appreciate all your lovely reviews!

{fixed some minor typos - edit 26 may 2013}

Up Next: A meeting with a werewolf, Dominique's first day at work, and a confrontation.